15:30
Supreme Court votes 9-0 against the NCAA
The Supreme Court has unanimously voted in favor of college athletes, ordering the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) to broaden education benefits for student athletes.
The case challenged the NCAA’s limits on compensation for student athletes, arguing that the governing body violated federal laws barring price fixing in markets. During oral arguments in March, the justices expressed skepticism about the NCAA’s argument that broadening benefits would defeat the purpose of “amateurism” in college sports.
In reviewing the case, the justices determined in the majority opinion that the NCAA “is capable of depressing wages below competitive levels for student-athletes and thereby restricting the quantity of student-athlete labor.”
Some NCAA rules limiting compensation will remain in place, but Justice Brett Kavanaugh wrote that limits on other forms of compensation should be scrutinized too.
In response to the court’s decision, Connecticut senator, Chris Murphy, said: “The NCAA collusion machine, designed to keep college athletes impoverished so the billions in profits can be kept for a small cabal of insiders, is finally starting to crumble to pieces.”
14:52
More and more revelations are emerging about just how far Trump’s justice department went rogue and new inquiries are being set up to examine the wrongdoing, writes Peter Stone for the Guardian:
More political abuses have emerged, with revelations that – starting under attorney general Jeff Sessions in 2018 – subpoenas were issued in a classified leak inquiry to obtain communications records of top Democrats on the House intelligence committee. Targets were Adam Schiff and Eric Swalwell, who were investigating Kremlin election meddling, and also several committee staffers and journalists.
Democrats in Congress, as well as Garland, have forcefully denounced these Trumpian tactics. Garland has asked the department’s inspector general to launch his own inquiry, and examine the subpoenas involving members of Congress and the media. Congressional committees are eyeing their own investigations into the department’s extraordinary behavior.
“There was one thing after another where DoJ acted inappropriately and violated the fundamental principle that law enforcement must be even-handed. The DoJ must always make clear that no person is above the law,” said Donald Ayer, deputy attorney general in the George HW Bush administration.
14:33
Biden to meet financial regulators at White House
Good morning,
Joe Biden is set to meet with financial regulators on Monday afternoon in the Oval Office, to discuss issues including the financial risk of climate change. Kamala Harris will also prioritize economic issues today, in a roundtable with a local union and on a trip to Pittsburgh to highlight the expanded child tax credit.
Participants in the Oval Office meeting with Biden will include the treasury secretary, Janet Yellen, the chair of the Federal Reserve, Jerome Powell, and the chair of the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC), Jelena McWilliams.
Biden is also working this week to sway senators to back his infrastructure proposal.
There will also be some rustling this week around voting rights, as the Senate prepares for a procedural vote on Tuesday about the For The People Act.
Stay tuned for more.